OF SELBORNE. 7 



was in the month of February, when those birds usually sit. 

 The saw was applied to the butt, the wedges were inserted into 

 the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blows of the 

 beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall ; but still the dam 

 sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from 

 her nest ; and, though her parental affection deserved a better 

 fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead 

 to the ground. 



LETTER III. 



TO THE SAME. 



THE fossil-shells of this district, and sorts of stone, such as 

 have fallen within my observation, must not be passed over in 

 silence. And first I must mention, as a great curiosity, a 

 specimen that was ploughed up in the chalky fields, near the 

 side of the Down, and given to me for the singularity of it's 

 appearance, which, to an incurious eye, seems like a petrified 

 fish of about four inches long, the cardo passing for an head 

 and mouth. It is in reality a bivalve of the Linncean Genus of 

 Mytilus, and the species of Crista Galli; called by Lister, Ras- 

 tellum; by Rumphius, Ostreum plicatum minus; by D'Argen- 

 ville, Auris Porci, s. Crista Galli, and by those who make 

 collections cock's comb. Though I applied to several such in 

 London, I never could meet with an entire specimen ; nor 

 could I ever find in books any engraving from a perfect one. 

 In the superb museum at Leicester-house, permission was 

 given me to examine for this article ; and though I was dis- 

 appointed as to the fossil, I was highly gratified with the 

 sight of several of the shells themselves in high preservation. 

 This bivalve is only known to inhabit the Indian ocean, where 

 it fixes itself to a zoophyte, known by the name Gorgonia. 

 The curious foldings of the suture the one into the other, the 

 alternate flutings or grooves, and the curved form of my 

 specimen being much easier expressed by the pencil than by 

 words, I have caused it to be drawn and engraved*. 

 * [This fossil, as Mr. Bennett has already shown in his edition, " is not 



